Ms Caoimhe Nic Dhomhnaill:

If the issues are handled appropriately, I do not foresee this group of children being likely to require more counselling than the average child across the population does. All the research points to very good outcomes. I remember when I started work with children born through IVF, there was always speculation as to how these children would do and how the disclosure would affect them. The children are doing well. I would not move towards a belief that these children will need counselling. What is really important, however, is how they are told. The fertility clinics and surrogacy agencies may well have a role in that regard in, first, considering with people why they might tell or not tell and hearing their ambivalence about doing so. Senator Seery Kearney spoke about weaponising in family breakdown. The most heartbreaking situations I have seen in family breakdown are when the children are told at the point of the breakdown. That can be prevented by going back and making sure early disclosure happens in an age-appropriate way.